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President Obama reiterated his support for marriage equality and other gay rights causes during his Ask Obama Live interview on MTV today.

He still says he still thinks marriage rights should be a matter of state law, but he believes the Defense of Marriage Act was unwarranted federal government interference on the issue, and says state-level conversations on the topic will help the nation arrive at a consensus.

“I have been very clear about my belief that same-sex couples have to be treated, before the eyes of the law, in the same way as heterosexual couples,” Obama says. He notes that he once supported civil unions as a means of accomplishing this, but seeing committed same-sex couples convinced him that civil unions did not provide “true equality.”

Lou Rispoli, a prominent gay activist from Queens, N.Y., was taken off life support on Thursday and was not expected to survive injuries sustained in a brutal attack over the weekend. UPDATE: The Queens Chronicle reported Friday that he died Thursday night.

A Facebook page was started in his memory after several news outlets reported he had been taken off life support Thursday.

Rispoli was struck in the head around 3 a.m. Saturday outside of 41-00 43rd Avenue in Sunnyside, according to the Sunnyside Post. A witness saw an SUV pull up with the victim and three other men, two of whom started walking with Rispoli. The witness said the group “all looked like friends.”

According to Gay City News, Rispoli was “hit in the head with a blunt object with such force that neighbors who heard the assault but did not see it thought he had been shot.”

Police are seeking surveillance video from the area, and it is not yet known whether the attack was motivated by antigay bias. Rispoli's death would make the case a homicide investigation. No suspects have been apprehended.

“It’s an open question at this point,” said Mark Horn, a longtime friend of Rispoli's. “We just don’t know why he would be targeted.”

Horn said Rispoli often walked around the neighborhood at night. He did not live in the building where the SUV pulled up.

“We suspect he was forced into the car,” said Horn. “Lou was not the kind of person to get into a car with strangers. He had no money on him. He only had his keys.”

Rispoli worked as an administrator at the Greenwich House Music School in Manhattan, according to the Associated Press. He was 62 years old.

Gay City News reported that Rispoli lived in Sunnyside for more than 30 years, where he was a well-known and liked leader of the gay community. He was among the first to cook meals and deliver them to people living with AIDS in the neighborhood, and he served as secretary to the gay composer Virgil Thompson.

Rispoli and his husband married in August 2011 on their 31st anniversary, Gay City News reported. The couple raised two daughters together.

New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the district where Rispoli lived, held a news conference Thursday afternoon. The gay lawmaker was a personal friend of the activist.

“This type of heinous attack has no place in our community,” said Van Bramer in a statement. “This incident has struck home for all of us and we need the public to come forward with any information regarding this crime. What happened to Lou should never happen to anyone. Whoever committed this horrific act of violence must be arrested and brought to justice.”

Police are urging anyone with information about the attack to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.

So... The Dying Gaul is finished. Uhm..would love to hear other opinions. I hated Jeff, felt he was just false and full of himself and job wise all over the shop. Didn't buy the 'Hollywood Mogul' image at all. His wife was annoying. Loved Peter uh Robert though. Funny how he doesn't even have to try hard to portray a gay man.. *sigh*. ;)

Anyway, overall I couldn't understand the characters actions towards the end of the film. Jeff, from the beginning, struck me as someone who's just fucking with people (NOT literally) and he ends up 'seeing' Robert. His wife finds out and goes psycho. On Robert. Hu? If that was me...actually, not a good example. ;) And Robert himself wasn't in love with Jeff so why all this shit at the end? And the end in general... HU? That's not an ending. Nothing's resolved between Robert and Jeff... I hate those films with no real ending. *sigh*

Johnny Depp performed the 'YMCA' with drag queens at David Furnish's 50th birthday party.

David's husband Sir Elton John threw a star studded bash to celebrate the milestone age in Los Angeles on Thursday (25.10.12) and Johnny was dragged up on stage by the performers although he didn't appear to mind.

A source told The Sun newspaper: 'Johnny's an actor, he knows how to camp it up. His Willy Wonka was definitely a bit effeminate.

'CHI CHI LaRUE was DJ-ing and sent a couple of drag queens to pull Johnny on stage to dance to a 'YMCA' mega mix. He didn't hold back and preserved his rock 'n' roll credentials by gripping a glass of whisky.'

Attention attention! People of Attention attention People o fNYC, if you are worried for the hurricane that could strike your city, Go in mass at The Laura Pels Theatre off Brodway!

Who In front to a climatic catastrophic event in New York Can drive you toward the salvation better than Jake Gyllenhaal? If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet!If you are already in the libraryDon't leave the building! And patiently wait for Dannis Quaid.

If you have need to heat , burn first all the copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, and however,you always try to stay next to the tall guy with the big ears!!!

Known for Oscar producing Training Day (2001) and fast car action The Fast and the Furious (2001) writer and director David Ayer knows how both to depict action and get intricate dialogue based performances from his cast. Gyllenhaal and Peña are outstanding as partners who shift between relaxed entertaining banter and policing duty that can be emotionally traumatic and frightening in it's dangerous regularity. Who Brian and Mike are is not given to the audience in a straight forward way. How they are introduced in the film seems to be on macho, trigger happy cop territory but gradually dispels such basic assumptions about their characters while retaining the necessary exterior armour both men require to do their job.

End of Watch is a compelling film teeming with excellent performances and if Gyllenhaal and/or Peña are nominated for awards, it will be unsurprising. Anna Kendrick's inclusion in the film is an excellent casting stroke, refreshing the story while infusing it with humour and another dimension to Brian's character. Though End of Watch will easily sit well on general release, it is an interesting choice for a film festival and again, is more than likely to garner award buzz.

When people assume Jack and Ennis were gay and their whole review of Brokeback Mountain is based on the “fact” that “they were two closet gay cowboys”:

I mean, just stop. You don’t know that. The fact that they fucked each other doesn’t make them gay. By that logic, you’d have to consider Jack as straight because he had sexual interest on Laureen. Human sexuality is much more complex than that.

I believe he does know and as far as I know, he doesn't care. I sometimes mention things from the fics (not the slash bits ;p) He knows I have an abnormal interest in all things gay...I make him watch all these shows and films that either have gay actors in them (White Collar..) or where the subject is gay (Dying Gaul, Howl etcetc). He always says: You only want to see this because of gay.. and I just go "yeah, so?' ;p

I have never ever heard or read "Why men like watching girls having sex? WTF is with that?". Such girl-on-girl scenes are nothing new in porn movies, but and at the same time I think that 98% of straight men and women would react with "You like guy-on-guy action? WTF is wrong with you?" on m/m slash or gay sex preference.

Anonymous said...P.S. The worst part is that I too think that's strange preference, mostly because I can't really explain it.

October 28, 2012 12:38 PM

What, the m/m preference? Hm... I can't explain it either although the more I read and see and ponder it all..I come to the conclusion that I was probably supposed to be a man but something didn't work out that way so here I am. And no, that is not a recent thought, I've been pondering that (wishing for that) pretty much my whole life. :s

I found slash by stumbling on an intriguing thread called Thom Yorke and Cheesecake on my then favourite Radiohead message board ;p I even wrote some *pssssssst that's now 9 years ago (wow I feel old ><)

Side note: If anyone is bored by this conversation, fel free to blame Jake for not being very interesting right now ;p

Personally I enjoy reading fanfic/slash for the storylines. Of course there are erotic passages, but it really doesn't rise to the level of erotica or porn, just stories about two people in love, no matter what the gender of the two people are.

Anonymous said...it really doesn't rise to the level of erotica or porn

It does for many stories in most fandoms.

October 28, 2012 4:27 PM

I agree. I am currently reading a story that's got it all: angst, funny, cute etcetc and omg the guy who writes it doesn't hold back on the smex *fansself*...

But yeah..I also very much enjoy reading fics without that. My favourites are those that punch you straight in the gut...leave you breathless and possibly sobbing. I'm not a huge fan of Happy Endings (unless the storyline goes that way but too many authors bend the story just so nobody is disappointed that the 'happy couple' isn't so happy. *sigh*)

You would support a man who doesn't believe in EQUAL civil rights for ALL Americans? Who is so small and pathetic person that he refused to let the state alter birth certificates for gay parents?Who wants State = Church? Who wants to prohibit abortion even if woman was raped because you can't question God's will?Would you?

A Christian religious leader has already claimed that Hurricane Sandy is further proof that “God is systematically destroying America” as political judgment for the “homosexual agenda.” John McTernan previously made similar allusions about Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Isaac (2012), which he reiterated in his urgent call to prayer posted Sunday evening (via Gay Star News):Just last August, Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans seven years later, on the exact day of Hurricane Katrina. Both hit during the week of the homosexual event called Southern Decadence in New Orleans!McTernan believes that it is noteworthy that Hurricane Sandy is hitting 21 years after the “Perfect Storm,” because 3 is a “significant number with God”:Twenty-one years breaks down to 7 x 3, which is a significant number with God. Three is perfection as the Godhead is three in one while seven is perfection.It appears that God gave America 21 years to repent of interfering with His prophetic plan for Israel; however, it has gotten worse under all the presidents and especially Obama. Obama is 100 percent behind the Muslim Brotherhood which has vowed to destroy Israel and take Jerusalem. Both candidates are pro-homosexual and are behind the homosexual agenda. America is under political judgment and the church does not know it!Religious spokespeople have frequently tried to draw bizarre connections between natural disasters and the LGBT community. Last year, the American Family Association’s Buster Wilson similarly claimed that Hurricane Isaac was punishment for the Southern Decadence LGBT festival. Rick Joyner had the same to say about Hurricane Katrina, claiming that “[God]‘s not gonna put up with perversion anymore.” Pat Robertson has long believed that acceptance of homosexuality could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombs, and “possibly a meteor.”It’s likely that McTernan will not be the only religious figure to draw such allusions from this devastating storm.

...If having to pick any faults, there are just two - the first being the ‘found-footage’ angle. The excuse for our cops was flimsy but workable. The criminals are plausible. It’s the in-between shots and a few angles that break from the flow of the film and gives the audience time to question whose perspective we’re looking at and why. The second fault is our two heroes; they’re unquestionably loyal to their duties and their job, and they’re very successful at what they do - the problem is, they don’t have any character flaws. Even Gyllenhaal’s character spends the first half of the film complaining that he can’t find a woman he can talk to, only ones he can sleep with. What!? The boys commit minor ethical infractions but never moral ones. Doing what they do and more importantly where that do it, there’s no way they’re that clean.

When it comes to the cast, Gyllenhaal is infallible as always, but it’s Peña who just radiates off the screen. Having a decent and beefy character to sink his teeth into, he's finally found a role deserving of his immense talent.

Writer/director David Ayer’s obsession with law enforcement has once again paid off as he splendidly captures the emotionally raw and human side of what the men and women on both sides of the thin blue line go through on a daily basis.

Sorry, copied without reading..I'm still avoiding anything remotely spoiler-ish... >< but the headline says that the Police Union in Germany (I guess) recommends EoW as a realistic portrayal of 'real cops'. (And now here's where I have images flash in front of my eyes of unfit guys dressed in ugly green, looking bored and so not cool. And don't even get me started on how Cologne is NOTHING like LA :s)

Joe Simpson has reportedly been leading a secret gay life with 21-year-old wanna-be model Bryce Chandler Hill, but new deets are coming out about Joe's sex romps… And his alleged 32-year-old gay male escort Joey Anderson is spilling the tea!

He recently revealed that he was involved in a steamy tryst with the 52-year-old father and grandfather that lasted for about 3 hours.

Oh, and did we mention that he also passed a polygraph test? It just makes all the following erotic details even more believable! Anderson revealed:

"Over the course of two hours or so, we rolled around, kissed and gave each other oral. We'd take breathers and then start up all over again. He seemed to have an insatiable appetite for sex and never really appeared tired."

Anderson said he was paid $600 and was told by Joe that he was "very much pleased" with his, ahem, services. AND, he's even received text messages from Joe asking to set up another play date, but as far as Anderson thinks, he's fairly certain this isn't the first male escort Joe has had the pleasure to do business with. He added:

"Whatever the case, I'm probably not the only one. After being a family man, and a religious one to boot, for all these years, I'm sure he's out sowing his wild oats with a bunch of boys. Joe has lived a lifetime of deceit regarding his sexuality. Before the dust settles, I wouldn't be surprised to hear about a lot more guys coming forward."

Have been following this blog for many a moon. Just came from Century City Wesfield Mall, when should we spot on the 2nd floor across from the AMC all off in a corner but Austy and unidentified twenty something raven haired gurl in Jackie O shades. Their chairs pushed together facing each other,knees touching , holding hands,heads together in deep conversation, eyes only for each other. Of course we made several passes by them just to verify. It was Austy, don't know who gurl was. He seemed a bit down and she playing the good gurlfriend or friend appeared to be consoling him. No Jakey, no Baby Tile in sight. Just a boy and a gurl looking for all the world like... well, just sayin ;)

Ricky Martin tweets a truly versatile picture of himself. You can either Photoshop yourself bending over in front of him or you can Photoshop yourself working him from behind. Any way you want it! - Towleroad

No snaps. Sorry. Yes the Century City Mall is in LA BH adjacent. I haven't posted on WFT for years, just thought you guys would like to know of a sighting. The folks at OMG was not very receptive. I wasn't making a "case" for Austy. Just reported what I saw at the mall today. Happy Halloweenie

...And he says the End Of Watch makers were at pains to avoid the buddy cop clich aacs of hundreds of films and TV shows to make their characters as authentic as possible.

"When I look inside a police car, I see two beating hearts," he says. "They go home, they have families. And what they see on the streets every day, particularly in the area we were shooting in and researching in, it's like a soldier at war."

Gyllenhaal says he and Pena didn't hit it off to begin with, but the rigours of training and the pressure of the ride-alongs turned them into fast friends. "We were told we were supposed to be best friends and it was supposed to be authentic - and that took us a while.

"I think that when Mike and I got into our first major fight; then we realised we were really, truly friends."